Sunday, July 26, 2009

"Who is this savita bhabi these people keep writing about with such vulgar caricatures in the papers these days?" asked my seemingly knowledgeable mother to confirm if i knew about the Indian porn site. I smiled at her and said, " she's the epitome of sexual realizations to a lot of people in different contexts"
My mom just snorted and left the room.

Now I don't generally have the patience to read the entire newspaper, but today I was in the mood. I wanted to sit with my dad with chai and upma and discuss things. I wanted to know what he thought, I wanted to know what I thought.
so I was raking through the pages today eagerly waiting to read things that would interest me, shock me, amuse me, make me laugh, make me skeptical. And yes, it all happened. It is this excitement I go through everytime I analyze stories, read the names of the authors just thinking how pleased they would feel, if someone very far away, in an over sized t-shirt and shorts sipping hot tea said their name out aloud in acknowledgment to an either gripping or deceiving piece of news they gathered the courage to write.
I made myself comfortable to read a very weak and naive contribution to the recent reality shows on TV. It talked about how this politician had issues with people being open and honest and how boys liked seeing infamously-famous TV stars or whatever they call themselves today, bathing on screen because they cant do nothing else, but bathe in public.
It talked about how the Indian masses find truth intimidating but severely western, how one is now not ashamed to abuse on national TV anymore, how one wants to get married in a reality television programme. Such justice to drama I've never witnessed before.
Very seemingly funny the article was. Really.
Voyeurs, that's what we are claims the article. I agree, I say.
Such issues I read about today. Sigh.
The Indian Howard Roark, the BMM syllabus, the obituaries, the matrimony sections, MNS rapists, my horoscope that said that a sense of well-being shall soon prevail, an article about how lie detectors work and how they aren't accurate, how cricket has now completed 100 years, and all that.

Then I skim through the pages again looking for something that I might have missed and I find this exceedingly small article to its worth that was titled "give and grow". It was about Indians coming together and extending help and charity in any freaking way possible. And how we should check out a site to "ask for more details".
I don't usually sit with an eye of screening every article with such concentration (and I call myself a reader) but , how they expect people to be aware and participate in "giving a glass of water" with such amazingly small space provision is what I wonder.
Apparently the bifurcation of how sexual are you and what can you be called hits the front page that says that I'm actually a "bi-curious". what difference does it make? I don't know.
In one of those matrimonial ads, a boy claims to be a teetotaler. I had no idea what that meant. Thanks to him now I know what a teetotaler is.
(for people who still don't- person who refrains from drinking intoxicating beverages)
Every ad says that their girls come from respectable families. EVERY ad. I wonder how many actually expect a "yes, our daughter lost her virginity when she was 15 and drinks heavily when upset".
But anyhow.
This was the papers. This was ALL just the papers. Reality television shows awaits me now.

I was telling my dad in the morning of how I was hungry to watch a play desperately. How I wanted to see live drama. Rakhi ka svayamwar wasn't satisfying enough.
But now I think I'm full. Sunday morning drama at its best.
Bon appetite.